Methods, systems, and apparatus for neural signal detection

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatus for signal detection are described. In one example, a detection assembly includes a signal detector. The signal detector is configured to receive a sensor signal having a peak magnitude and a first frequency and generate an output signal having a magnitude proportional to the peak magnitude of the sensor signal and having a second frequency less than the first frequency of the sensor signal.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

a. Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates generally to methods, systems, and apparatus for signal detection. More particularly, the present disclosure relates neural signal detection methods, systems, and apparatus that utilize a circuit to measure and record the amplitude of nerve firings along the spinal cord and peripheral nerves.

b. Background Art

Medical devices and procedures that affect or involve neural signals are known. It is known, for example, that ablation systems are used to perform ablation procedures to treat certain conditions of a patient. A patient experiencing arrhythmia, for example, may benefit from cardiac ablation to prevent irregular heartbeats caused by arrhythmogenic electric signals generated in cardiac tissues. By ablating or altering cardiac tissues that generate such unintended electrical signals, the irregular heartbeats may be stopped. Ablation systems are also known for use in treating hypertension, and in particular drug-resistant hypertension, in patients. In particular, renal ablation systems, also referred to as renal denervation systems, are used to create lesions along the renal sympathetic nerves, which are a network of nerves in the renal arteries that help control and regulate blood pressure. The intentional disruption of the nerve supply has been found to cause blood pressure to decrease. Other medical devices that measure or record neural signals include, spinal cord stimulation (SCS) systems that provide pulsed electrical stimulation to a patient's spinal cord to control chronic pain, and cardiac rhythm management devices (CRMD) used to regulate a patient's heart beat.

Known techniques for detecting high frequency signals in a body, and particularly high frequency neural signals, typically require very sensitive equipment, as nerve signals differ from cardiac signals and are at a higher frequency and much narrower pulse duration. In particular, neural signals are typically collected through surgically positioned microelectrodes or micropipette electrodes. The signals generated by these sensors are generally sampled by controllers at a sampling rate of about four kilohertz. The sensors and controllers required for such techniques are not inexpensive. Moreover, some medical devices and procedures may benefit from limited information about neural signals and do not require the detailed information that is obtained using the known techniques.

There is a need, therefore, for neural signal detection systems that do not require expensive, surgically implanted electrodes, utilize simpler and less expensive controllers with relatively low sampling rates, and provide useful data about detected neural signals in real time. It would also be beneficial if the neural signal detection systems were compact in size so that they could be easily built into or onto an ablation catheter, or into or onto an implantable medical device such as a spinal cord stimulator device or a cardiac rhythm management device.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In one aspect, a neural signal detector includes a rectifier circuit and a peak detector circuit operatively connected to the rectifier circuit. The rectifier circuit is configured to receive a time varying neural signal from a neural sensor and output a rectified signal corresponding to the received signal. The rectifier circuit is configured to receive the rectified signal and to provide an output signal proportional to a peak magnitude of the rectified signal.

In another aspect, a detection assembly includes a signal detector. The signal detector is configured to receive a sensor signal having a peak magnitude and a first frequency and generate an output signal having a magnitude proportional to the peak magnitude of the sensor signal and having a second frequency less than the first frequency of the sensor signal.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is an ablation system. The ablation system includes a signal detector and a controller. The signal detector is configured to receive, from a neural sensor, a plurality of signals and generate a pre-ablation output signal having a first magnitude proportional to a peak magnitude of at least one pre-ablation signal of the plurality of signals and having a duration greater than said at least one pre-ablation signal of the plurality of signals. The controller is operatively coupled to the signal detector to sample the pre-ablation output signal.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is an ablation catheter comprising an ablation electrode, a sensing electrode, and a neural signal detector operatively connected to the sensing electrode. The neural signal detector comprises a rectifier circuit configured to receive a time varying neural signal from a neural sensor and output a rectified signal corresponding to the received signal and a peak detector circuit operatively connected to the rectifier circuit to receive the rectified signal and configured to provide an output signal proportional to a peak magnitude of the rectified signal.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is a spinal cord stimulation device comprising an implantable stimulating electrode, a sensing electrode, and a neural signal detector operatively connected to the sensing electrode. The neural signal detector comprises a rectifier circuit configured to receive a time varying neural signal from a neural sensor and output a rectified signal corresponding to the received signal and a peak detector circuit operatively connected to the rectifier circuit to receive the rectified signal and configured to provide an output signal proportional to a peak magnitude of the rectified signal.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is a cardiac rhythm management device comprising a pacing lead, a sensing electrode, and a neural signal detector operatively connected to the sensing electrode. The neural signal detector comprises a rectifier circuit configured to receive a time varying neural signal from a neural sensor and output a rectified signal corresponding to the received signal and a peak detector circuit operatively connected to the rectifier circuit to receive the rectified signal and configured to provide an output signal proportional to a peak magnitude of the rectified signal. The foregoing and other aspects, features, details, utilities and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent from reading the following description and claims, and from reviewing the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a signal detection assembly.

FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic of one example signal detector for use in the detection assembly shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a graphical representation of an example input to the signal detector shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a graphical representation of an example output of the signal detector shown in FIG. 2 in response to the input shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a simplified schematic of another example signal detector for use in the detection assembly shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a graphical representation of an example neural signal that may be detected by the detection assembly shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is an isometric view of one embodiment of an ablation system including a generator, a catheter, and a return electrode.

FIG. 8 is a partial view of a distal end of the catheter shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of an example neural sensor for use in the system shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a controller for use in the generator shown in FIG. 7.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure is generally directed to methods and systems for measuring and/or recording neural signals along the spinal cord or in peripheral nerves, including cardiac nerves and renal nerves. The methods and systems described herein measure and/or record the amplitude of neural signals. The systems of the present disclosure utilize a small-sized circuit that includes generally a high frequency diode, a capacitor, and a resistor as a demodulator as described herein. In many cases, the circuitry can be sized and configured to fit inside of a medical device or on a lead or catheter. The circuitry for measuring and/or recording the activities of nerves as described herein may be particularly useful for cardiac and renal ablation procedures, as well as for numerous implantable medical devices as described herein.

This approach may allow an ablation catheter system to measure the success of renal efferent and afferent nerve ablation during a renal denervation procedure to provide immediate success feedback to a doctor throughout an ablation procedure. Further, this approach may allow for spinal cord stimulator devices to provide improved sensing capabilities. Still further, this approach to measuring nerve amplitude may enable responses from interventions between neuro and cardiac rhythm management devices such as the recording of nerve responses from stimulating different sites of T1-T5 and T11-L2 in the spinal cord or sites along the sternum and intracardiac sites. These and other benefits of the disclosure are set forth in detail herein.

Referring now to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 1, detection assembly 100, includes sensor 102, signal detector 104, and controller 106. Sensor 102 is operable to detect a signal and generate a sensor signal proportional to the detected signal. Sensor 102 is operatively coupled to Signal detector 104. Signal detector 104 receives the sensor signal from sensor 102 and generates an output signal proportional to the sensor signal. Controller 106 is coupled to signal detector 104 to receive the output signal from signal detector 104.

In the exemplary embodiment, signal detector 104 is configured to generate an output signal having characteristics, such as magnitude, frequency, etc., that controller 106 is operable to sample. In particular, the received signal has a peak magnitude and a first frequency. Signal detector 104 generates an output signal with a magnitude that is proportional to the peak magnitude at a second frequency that is less than the first frequency. In the illustrated embodiment, signal detector 104 generates an output signal with a magnitude that is substantially equal to the peak magnitude of the sensor signal. In other suitable embodiments, signal detector 104 generates an output signal with a magnitude that is greater or lesser than, but proportional to, the peak magnitude of the sensor signal. Thus, controller 106, which may have a sampling resolution too low for accurate sampling of the sensor signal, is provided with the output signal by signal detector 104, at a frequency, the second frequency, that it may accurately sample.

Referring again to FIG. 1, signal detector 104 includes rectifier circuit 108 and peak detector circuit 110. Rectifier circuit 108 receives the sensor signal, which is a time varying signal and may be an alternating current (AC) signal, at input 112 from sensor 102. Rectifier circuit 108 rectifies the received sensor signal and outputs a rectified signal to peak detector circuit 110. Peak detector circuit 110 detects the peak magnitude of the rectified signal and generates an output signal with a magnitude proportional to the peak magnitude of the rectified signal and the sensor signal at a frequency less than the frequency of the sensor signal. The output signal is output from peak detector circuit 110 and signal detector 104 via output 114. Rectifier circuit 108 and peak detector circuit 110 may include any circuits and/or components suitable for operation as described herein. Some exemplary rectifier circuits suitable for use as rectifier circuit 108 and some exemplary peak detector circuits suitable for use as peak detector circuit 110 are described in detail below.

The illustrated controller 106 includes processor 116 and memory device 118 coupled to processor 116. Other suitable embodiments do not include processor 116 and/or memory device 118. The term “processor” refers herein generally to any programmable system including systems and microcontrollers, reduced instruction set circuits (RISC), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logic circuits, field programmable gate array (FPGA), gate array logic (GAL), programmable array logic (PAL), digital signal processor (DSP), and any other circuit or processor capable of executing the functions described herein. The above examples are exemplary only, and thus are not intended to limit in any way the definition and/or meaning of the term “processor.” Although a single processor is illustrated in FIG. 1, processor 116 may include more than one processor and the actions described herein may be shared by more than one processor. Moreover, although controller 106 is illustrated in FIG. 1 as a component of detection assembly 100, controller 106 may be a part of and/or shared with another system, such as a system with which detection assembly 100 is used.

Memory device 118 stores program code and instructions, executable by processor 116. When executed by processor 116, the program code and instructions cause processor 116 to operate as described herein. Memory device 118 may include, but is not limited to only include, non-volatile RAM (NVRAM), magnetic RAM (MRAM), ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), read only memory (ROM), flash memory and/or Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM). Any other suitable magnetic, optical and/or semiconductor memory, by itself or in combination with other forms of memory, may be included in memory device 118. Memory device 118 may also be, or include, a detachable or removable memory, including, but not limited to, a suitable cartridge, disk, CD ROM, DVD or USB memory. Although illustrated separately from processor 116, memory device 118 may be integrated with processor 116 in other suitable embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment of signal detector 104 with a passive rectifier circuit 108 and passive peak detector circuit 110. In the signal detector shown in FIG. 2, input 112 is configured for connection to bipolar sensor 102 (not shown). In other embodiments, input 112 may be configured for connection to any other suitable type of sensor 102 including, for example, a unipolar sensor 102. A feed-through capacitor 200 is coupled to input 112 to pass the sensor signal to passive rectifier circuit 108. In other suitable embodiments, feed-through capacitor 200 is not included in signal detector 104.

Passive rectifier circuit 108 in FIG. 2 is a positive half-wave rectifier circuit. In other suitable embodiments, passive rectifier circuit 108 may be any other suitable passive rectifier circuit including, for example, a full wave rectifier circuit, a negative half wave rectifier circuit, etc. Passive rectifier circuit 108 includes diode 202. Diode 202 includes anode 204 and cathode 206. Generally, diode 202 conducts current when it is forward biased, i.e., when a bias voltage exceeding a positive threshold voltage differential is applied across diode 202 from anode 204 to cathode 206. Diode 202 blocks current when it is reverse biased, i.e., when a bias voltage that does not exceed the positive threshold voltage differential is applied across diode 202 from anode 204 to cathode 206. In FIG. 2, diode 202 may be a Schottky diode with a relatively low threshold voltage, also referred to as a diode forward voltage drop, between about 0.2 volts and 0.4 volts. In other suitable embodiments, diode 202 is any other suitable type of diode with a relatively low threshold voltage (e.g., less than about 0.5 volts). In some embodiments, diode 202 is a germanium diode. When diode 202 is forward biased, current, e.g., the sensor signal, flows through diode 202 to passive peak detector circuit 110. When diode 202 is reverse biased, e.g., when the voltage differential from anode 204 to cathode 206 is less than the threshold voltage, diode 202 prevents current from flowing between the passive rectifier circuit 108 and passive peak detector circuit 110. Thus, only the positive portion of the rectified signal that exceeds the bias voltage is delivered from passive rectifier circuit 108 to passive peak detector circuit 110.

Passive peak detector circuit 110 includes resistor 208 and capacitor 210. Resistor 208 is coupled in parallel with capacitor 210. The voltage across capacitor 210 is, via output 114, the output signal of passive peak detector circuit 110 and signal detector 104. When current is permitted to flow through rectifier circuit 108 to peak detector circuit 110, the voltage on capacitor 210 increases as a function of the time constant, tau (τ), defined by the values of paralleled resistor 208 and capacitor 210. More specifically, the time constant is equal to the capacitance of capacitor 210 multiplied by the resistance of resistor 208. Approximately when the rectified signal reaches a peak value and begins to decrease, diode 202 becomes reversed biased, i.e., the difference between the voltage of the sensor signal applied to anode 204 of diode 202 and the voltage across capacitor 210 is less than the threshold voltage of diode 202. Diode 202 no longer conducts current and the voltage on capacitor 210 is discharged through resistor 208 at a rate defined by the time constant. The resistance of resistor 208 and the capacitance of capacitor 210 are selected to result in a time constant large enough that the voltage on the capacitor will discharge slowly enough for controller 106 to accurately sample the peak voltage on capacitor 210. In one example implementation, controller 106 has a sampling resolution of four milliseconds (ms). It is generally desirable for peak detector circuit 110 to have a time constant greater than the sampling resolution of the controller. Accordingly, in this example, resistor 208 has a resistance of about 200 kiloohms (kΩ) and capacitor 210 has a capacitance of about 33 nanofarads (nF), resulting in a time constant of about 6.6 ms. To change the time constant to suit a different sampling rate of controller 106, the resistance of resistor 208 and/or the capacitance of capacitor 210 may be suitably varied.

A specific example of operation of detection assembly 100 including signal detector 104 as shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. For this specific example, a series of pulses of 64 megahertz (MHz) signals were induced on input 112 to simulate a high frequency sensor signal. The 64 MHz signals have a period of about 15.6 nanoseconds (ns). In this example, resistor 208 had a resistance of 30 kΩ and capacitor 210 had a capacitance of 33 picofarads (pF), resulting in a time constant of about one microsecond (μs). FIG. 3 is a graph 300 of the magnitude of induced signals 302 as a function of time. Induced signals 302 had a peak magnitude “P”. Rectifier circuit 108 rectified induced signals 302 and provided the rectified signals (not shown) to peak detector circuit 110. FIG. 4 is a graph 400 of output signal 402 of peak detector circuit 110, i.e., the voltage on capacitor 210. Capacitor 210 charges up to the peak voltage P of induced signals 302. When the induced signal drops below peak magnitude 302, capacitor 210 begins to discharge through resistor 208. Because the time constant of peak detector circuit 110 is relatively large compared to the period of induced signals 302, the voltage on capacitor 210 does not significantly discharge between signals in each pulse of signals in induced signals 302. Following each pulse of signals of induced signals 302, capacitor 210 discharges to approximately zero volts. As a result, output signal 402 is a square wave with a magnitude of approximately peak magnitude P. The period of square wave output signal 402 is significantly longer than the period of induced signals 302. Put another way, the frequency of output signal 402 is significantly less than the frequency of induced signals 302. Thus, controller 106 may accurately sample output signal 402 at a lower frequency and a lower sampling rate than the frequency and sampling rate that would be required to accurately sample induced signals 302.

Now leaving the specific example, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment of signal detector 104 with an active rectifier circuit 108 and passive peak detector circuit 110. A sensor signal is input to signal detector 104 through feed-through capacitor 200 at input 112. Active rectifier circuit 108 receives the sensor signal and outputs a rectified signal to passive peak detector circuit 110. Passive peak detector circuit 110 transmits an output signal through output 114. Passive peak detector circuit includes resistor 208 and capacitor 210. Active rectifier circuit 108 includes full wave rectifier 500 and buffer 502. Buffer 502 is a unity gain buffer amplifier including operational amplifier 504. Buffer 502 has a high impedance input for receiving the output of full wave rectifier 500 and a low impedance output to provide the output signal of full wave rectifier 500 to peak detector circuit 110 with minimal losses. Full wave rectifier 500 includes operational amplifier 506, diode 508, and resistors 510, 512, and 514. When an input signal, such as the sensor signal, is less than zero, full wave rectifier 500 operates as an inverting amplifier with a gain of:

$\begin{matrix} {{{Inverting}\mspace{14mu} {gain}} = {- \frac{R\; 2}{R\; 1}}} & (1) \end{matrix}$

where R2 is the resistance of resistor 512 and R1 is the resistance of resistor 514. When the input signal is greater than zero, the full wave rectifier has a noninverting gain of:

$\begin{matrix} {{{Noninverting}\mspace{14mu} {Gain}} = \frac{1}{1 + \left( \frac{{R\; 1} + {R\; 2}}{R\; 3} \right)}} & (2) \end{matrix}$

where R3 is the resistance of resistor 510. The resistance of resistors 510, 512, and 514 is selected so that the inverting gain and the non-inverting gain are substantially equal to maintain the same proportionality of the output signal for both positive and negative input signals. In one example implementation, resistor 510 has a resistance of 15 kΩ, resistor 512 has a resistance of 5 kΩ, and resistor 514 has a resistance of 10 kΩ. Thus, according to equations (1) and (2), the example active rectifier circuit 108 has an inverting and non-inverting gain of one half Other implementations may be configured to have any other suitable gain, including a gain greater than one. In one example implementation, operational amplifiers 504 and 506 are the two operational amplifiers of a LM358 dual operational amplifier and diode 508 is a 1N4148 diode. In other implementations, any other suitable diode and/or operational amplifiers, including two different operational amplifiers, may be used. It should be understood that active versions of rectifier circuit 108 are not limited to the exemplary rectifier circuit illustrated in FIG. 5 and rectifier circuit 108 may be any suitable active or passive rectifier circuit capable of operating as generally described herein. For example, active rectifier circuit 108 may include a synchronous rectifier, an active half wave rectifier, a dual operation amplifier rectifier, a single operation amplifier (whether full wave or half wave) with or without a buffer, etc.

The output of active rectifier circuit 108 is provided to passive peak detector circuit 110, which operates as described above. In other embodiments, peak detector circuit 110 is an active peak detector circuit 110 including one or more operation amplifiers. Active peak detector circuits are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art and will not be further described herein.

Detection assembly 100 may be included in and/or used in conjunction with any system in which relatively high frequency signals are to be sensed. In some exemplary systems, the detection assembly 100 is used to detect neural signals. FIG. 6 shows an example of neural signals 600. In particular, the neural signals 600 are muscle sympathetic nerve activity accessed in the peroneal nerve using microneurography. Each signal has a peak magnitude and a duration. For example, signal 602 has a peak magnitude 604, and a duration 606. The specific magnitude and duration can vary among different nerves, different types of nerves, and among different firings of a single nerve. In general, duration 606 of a nerve signal is relatively short, e.g., one to three milliseconds. As can be seen in FIG. 6, neural signals 600 have varying magnitudes and generally occur stochastically and non-synchronized. Moreover, the rate of nerve firings can vary between five and five thousand firings per second. Because of the high frequency of the nerve signals, accurate detection and reproduction of neural signals, such as neural signals 600, typically requires a relatively high sampling rate, e.g., greater than four kHz. For some uses as described herein, however, reproduction of all of the details of a neural signal is not needed and/or desired. In such instances, detection assembly 100 may be utilized to convert the high frequency, time varying neural signals to lower frequency output signals that indicate the peak magnitude(s) of the neural signals. Thus, controller 106 may utilize a lower sampling rate to gain information about the neural signals than would be required to accurately sample the unmodified neural signals.

For example, in some embodiments, detection assembly 100 is included in or on, or used in conjunction with, a spinal cord stimulator (SCS). SCS pulse generators apply stimulation to the spinal cord to provide many potential benefits. Detection assembly 100 may be used to sense neural firing patterns along a patient's spinal cord and peripheral nerves for use as feedback for the SCS system, to study the efficacy of treatment, and/or for any other suitable use.

In other embodiments, the detection assembly is incorporated in or on, or used in conjunction with, a cardiac rhythm medical device (CRMD). Detection assembly 100 may be used to detect cardiac neural signals, which may be used, for example, to determine the response to neuro-stimulations. In still other embodiments, detection assembly 100 may be incorporated within and/or used in conjunction with an ablation system, including both cardiac ablations systems and renal ablation systems. More specifically, in some embodiments, detection system 100 is used to detect neural signals in connection with a neural ablation system. The detection system may be used to detect the magnitude of neural signals before an ablation and after an ablation to facilitate determining the effectiveness of the ablation, and hence the overall procedure. An exemplary ablation system incorporating detection system 100 is described below. It should be understood, however, that the detection system described above may be used with any other suitable system, including SCS systems, other ablation systems, CRMDs, etc. In many embodiments, nerve sensing electrodes including the neural signal detectors described herein may be located close to ablation electrodes or pacing electrodes without interference.

An exemplary ablation system 700 including detection system 100 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 7-10. Ablation system 700 includes an generator 702, multi-electrode ablation catheter 704, and return electrode 706. Ablation catheter 704 is removably coupled to generator 702 by cable 708. Return electrode 706 is removably coupled to generator 702 by cable 710. In use, return electrode 706 is placed externally against a patient's body and catheter 704 is inserted into the patient's body. Generally, generator 702 outputs radio frequency (RF) energy to catheter 704 through cable 708. The RF energy leaves catheter 704 through a plurality of electrodes 712 (shown in FIG. 8) located at distal end 714 of catheter 704. The RF energy travels through the patient's body to return electrode 706. The dissipation of the RF energy in the body increases the temperature near the electrodes, thereby permitting ablation to occur. In the exemplary embodiment set forth herein, ablation system 700 is a renal ablation system suitable for use in performing renal denervation procedures. It is understood, however, that the ablation system may be used for other treatments, including cardiac ablation treatments, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

Generator 702 includes a user interface (UI) portion 716 for displaying information and notifications to an operator and receiving input from the user. Display devices 718 visually display information, such as measured temperatures, power output of the generator, temperature thresholds, cycle time, etc., and/or notifications to the user. Display devices 718 may include a vacuum fluorescent display (VFD), one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs), cathode ray tubes (CRT), plasma displays, and/or any suitable visual output device capable of displaying graphical data and/or text to a user. Indicators 720 provide visual notifications and alerts to the user. In other embodiments, one or more of indicators 720 provide audible notifications and/or alerts to the user. In the illustrated embodiment, indicators 720 are lights, such as light emitting diodes, incandescent lamps, etc. Indicators 720 may be turned on or off, for example, to indicate whether or not generator 702 is receiving power, whether or not catheter 704 is connected, whether or not catheter 704 (or all electrodes 712) is functioning properly, etc. Moreover, indicators 720 may indicate a quality or degree of a feature or component of ablation system 700, such as by changing color, changing intensity, and/or changing the number of indicators 720 that are turned on. Thus, for example, an indicator 720 may change color to represent a unitless notification of the quality of the contact between one or more of electrodes 712 and an artery wall, or to indicate a comparison between pre-ablation neural signals and post-ablation neural signals. UI portion 716 includes inputs 722, e.g., buttons, keys, knobs, etc., for receiving commands and/or requests from a user.

As shown in FIG. 8, multiple electrodes 712 may be disposed on basket 724 located at distal end 714 of catheter 704. In the illustrated embodiment, basket 724 is an expandable basket that may be expanded and collapsed by an operator of ablation system 700 to position electrodes 712 against, for example, an artery wall. In the illustrated embodiment, catheter 704 includes four electrodes 712. In other embodiments, catheter 704 may include at least two, but other than four, electrodes 712. A thermocouple (not shown, also referred to herein as a temperature sensor) is attached to each electrode 712 to provide temperature readings of electrode 712. Catheter 704 also contains a thermistor (not shown) and a 1-Wire EEPROM. Generator 702 uses the thermistor for measuring ambient temperature and performing cold-junction compensation on the thermocouples. The EEPROM contains a unique ID which allows generator 702 to reject devices not manufactured specifically for use with generator 702. Generator 702 also maintains usage data on the EEPROM in order to enforce maximum operation limits for catheter 704.

In the illustrated embodiment shown in FIG. 8, four sensors 102 are disposed on basket 724 near electrodes 712. Sensors 102 may be any sensors suitable for sensing neural firings occurring near sensors 102 and generating a sensor signal representative of the sensed neural firing. In the illustrated embodiment, sensors 102 are non-contact neural sensors; that is, neural sensors that do not require direct contact with a nerve to sense a reading or firing of the nerve. Of course, other sensors that contact the nerve directly are within the scope of the present disclosure. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 9, illustrated sensors 102 are split ring neural sensors. A split ring sensor is a generally toroidal, or ring, shape split into between two and four segments. In the illustrated embodiment shown in FIG. 9, sensor 102 is a four segment split ring. Any two of the segments of the four segment split ring may be utilized as a bipolar sensor. In the exemplary embodiment, signal detector 104 and controller 106 are located within generator 702 (as shown in FIG. 10 and discussed below), and sensor signals are transmitted, such as through a conductor within catheter 704, from sensors 102 to signal detector 104 within generator 702. In other embodiments, signal detector 104 is integrated within catheter 704, and signal detector 104 output signals are transmitted, such as through one or more conductors within catheter 704, from signal detector 104 to controller 106. In still other embodiments, signal detector 104 and controller 106 are incorporated within catheter 704.

Referring now to FIG. 10, generator 702 includes a power supply 726, a controller 728, and an RF output circuit 730. A multiplexer 740 receives inputs from electrodes 712. Signal detector 104 receives sensor signals from sensors 102 and provides its output signal(s) to controller 728. Power supply 726 receives AC power via an input 732 and converts the received power to a DC power output. The DC power output is provided to the RF output circuit 730 that outputs RF power to catheter 704, and more specifically to electrodes 712, via output 734. Controller 728 is coupled to and controls operation of power supply 726 and RF output circuit 730. Controller 728 controls when and to which electrodes 712 the RF output circuit 730 couples its RF power output. In other embodiments, one or both of the RF output circuit 730 and power supply 726 includes its own controller configured to control operation in response to commands from controller 728. In the illustrated embodiment, controller 728 also functions as controller 106. In other embodiments, controller 106 is separate from controller 728.

Controller 728 includes processor 736 and memory device 738 coupled to processor 736. The term “processor” refers herein generally to any programmable system including systems and microcontrollers, reduced instruction set circuits (RISC), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logic circuits, field programmable gate array (FPGA), gate array logic (GAL), programmable array logic (PAL), digital signal processor (DSP), and any other circuit or processor capable of executing the functions described herein. The above examples are exemplary only, and thus are not intended to limit in any way the definition and/or meaning of the term “processor.” Moreover, although a single processor is illustrated in FIG. 10, processor 736 may include more than one processor and the actions described herein may be shared by more than one processor.

Memory device 738 stores program code and instructions, executable by processor 736. When executed by processor 736, the program code and instructions cause processor 736 to operate as described herein. Memory device 738 may include, but is not limited to only include, non-volatile RAM (NVRAM), magnetic RAM (MRAM), ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), read only memory (ROM), flash memory and/or Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM). Any other suitable magnetic, optical and/or semiconductor memory, by itself or in combination with other forms of memory, may be included in memory device 738. Memory device 738 may also be, or include, a detachable or removable memory, including, but not limited to, a suitable cartridge, disk, CD ROM, DVD or USB memory. Although illustrated separately from processor 736, memory device 738 may be integrated with processor 736.

In operation, when catheter 704 is positioned at a location for an ablation, each sensor 102 detects neural signals having neural activity near itself. These pre-ablation neural signals are transmitted to signal detector 104, which generates pre-ablation output signals having magnitudes proportional to the peak magnitudes of detected neural signals and a frequency less than the frequency of the original neural signals. After an ablation has occurred at a location, post-ablation neural signals are sensed and transmitted from sensors 102 to signal detector 104. Signal detector 104 generates post-ablation output signals having magnitudes proportional to the peak magnitudes of detected post-ablation neural signals and a frequency less than the frequency of the post-ablation neural signals. Controller 728 samples the pre-ablation and post-ablation output signals at a sampling frequency that is less than the twice the frequency of the pre-ablation and post-ablation neural signals. In other embodiments, controller 728 samples the pre-ablation and post-ablation output signals at a sampling frequency that is less than the frequency of the pre-ablation and post-ablation neural signals. In some embodiments, the controller samples the pre-ablation and post-ablation output signals at a sampling frequency of about 512 Hz. In other embodiments, the controller samples the pre-ablation and post-ablation output signals at a sampling frequency of about 200 Hz. In some embodiments, the controller samples the pre-ablation and post-ablation output signals at a sampling frequency selected as a function of the time constant of signal detector 104. After sampling the pre-ablation and/or post-ablation output signals, controller 728 may store the sampled signals, such as in memory device 738.

Controller 728 determines a difference between the magnitudes of the pre-ablation output signals and the post-ablation output signals and generates an indication of the determined difference. The indication may be a visual or audible indication. For example, controller 728 may display a value of the difference, e.g., an average percentage difference, on display device 718, may display an indication of the difference using indicators 720, may audibly announce an indication of the difference, etc. In some embodiments, controller 728 compares the determined difference to a predetermined threshold value and generates an indication of whether or not the difference exceeds the threshold value. Thus, for example, if a 75% decrease in the magnitude of the neural signals is desired for an ablation to be considered successful, controller 728 may determine whether or not the post-ablation output signals indicate a 75% decrease from the pre-ablation output signals. If controller 728 determines that the threshold has been exceeded, controller 728 may provide an indication, whether audible or visual, that the ablation was successful. In other embodiments, controller 728 provides an indication when the ablation is unsuccessful.

Although certain embodiments of this disclosure have been described above with a certain degree of particularity, those skilled in the art could make numerous alterations to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. All directional references (e.g., upper, lower, upward, downward, left, right, leftward, rightward, top, bottom, above, below, vertical, horizontal, clockwise, and counterclockwise) are only used for identification purposes to aid the reader's understanding of the present disclosure, and do not create limitations, particularly as to the position, orientation, or use of the disclosure. Joinder references (e.g., attached, coupled, connected, and the like) are to be construed broadly and may include intermediate members between a connection of elements and relative movement between elements. As such, joinder references do not necessarily infer that two elements are directly connected and in fixed relation to each other. It is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not limiting. Changes in detail or structure may be made without departing from the spirit of the disclosure as defined in the appended claims.

When introducing elements of the present disclosure or the various versions, embodiment(s) or aspects thereof, the articles “a”, “an”, “the” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising”, “including” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. The use of terms indicating a particular orientation (e.g., “top”, “bottom”, “side”, etc.) is for convenience of description and does not require any particular orientation of the item described.

As various changes could be made in the above without departing from the scope of the disclosure, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. 

1-16. (canceled)
 17. An ablation system comprising: a signal detector configured to: receive, from a neural sensor, a plurality of signals; and generate a pre-ablation output signal having a first magnitude proportional to a peak magnitude of at least one pre-ablation signal of the plurality of signals and having a duration greater than said at least one pre-ablation signal of the plurality of signals; and a controller operatively coupled to the signal detector to sample the pre-ablation output signal.
 18. The ablation system of claim 17 wherein the signal detector is configured to generate a post-ablation output signal having a second magnitude proportional to a peak magnitude of at least one post-ablation signal of the plurality of signals and having a duration greater than said at least one post-ablation signal, and wherein the controller is configured to sample the post-ablation output signal.
 19. The ablation system of claim 18 wherein the controller is further configured to determine a difference between the pre-ablation output signal and the post ablation output signal.
 20. The ablation system of claim 19 wherein the controller is further configured to generate an indication of the determined difference between the pre-ablation output signal and the post ablation output signal.
 21. The ablation system of claim 17 wherein the signal detector comprises a rectifier circuit and a peak detector circuit.
 22. The ablation system of claim 21 wherein the rectifier circuit is configured to receive the plurality of signals and output a rectified signal corresponding to the peak magnitude of the at least one pre-ablation signal.
 23. The ablation system of claim 22 wherein the peak detector circuit is operatively connected to the rectifier circuit to receive the rectified signal and configured to provide the pre-ablation output signal having the first magnitude and the duration greater than said at least one pre-ablation signal.
 24. The ablation system of claim 21 wherein the rectifier circuit comprises a passive rectifier circuit.
 25. The ablation system of claim 24 wherein the passive rectifier circuit includes a diode.
 26. The ablation system of claim 25 wherein the diode is a Schottky diode.
 27. The ablation system of claim 21 wherein the rectifier circuit comprises an active rectifier circuit.
 28. The ablation system of claim 27 wherein the active rectifier circuit comprises a full wave active rectifier.
 29. The ablation system of claim 21 wherein the peak detector circuit comprises a passive peak detector circuit.
 30. The ablation system of claim 29 wherein the passive peak detector circuit comprises a resistor coupled in parallel with a capacitor.
 31. The ablation system of claim 21 wherein the peak detector circuit is an active peak detector circuit.
 32. The ablation system of claim 31 wherein the active peak detector circuit comprises at least one operational amplifier.
 33. The ablation system of claim 17 further comprising a neural sensor operatively coupled to the signal detector and operable to generate the plurality of signals.
 34. The ablation system of claim 33 wherein the neural sensor is operable to generate the plurality of signals in response to neural signals proximate the neural sensor.
 35. The ablation system of claim 17 wherein the controller is operable to sample the pre-ablation output signal at a maximum sampling rate less than a frequency of the plurality of signals.
 36. The ablation system of claim 17 wherein the controller is operable to sample the pre-ablation output signal at a maximum sampling rate less than twice a frequency of the plurality of signals. 